How Facebook Means The Internet For More People

I’ll save my update on what has been an amazing few days being immersed in building ideas for blockchain businesses with the Chiasma until I can do it justice.

Instead, here’s a fascinating story that shows just how powerful Facebook is becoming in some developing countries. To summarise, it transpired to those studying survey responses that there are millions of Facebook users in Indonesia have no idea that they’re using the internet. Indeed, the majority of respondents in Nigeria, India, Indonesia and Brazil all agreed with the statement “Facebook is the internet“.

Of course, Facebook and others have been instrumental in building the foundations for this ubiquity, with Facebook Zero focused on providing access to those with only basic phones and the provision of Facebook-only data plans in India, for example.

But the reality is that now the platform is so important that regulators and public bodies can do nothing other than engage with citizens where they are – namely on Facebook. And whilst the gradual exodus continues from the open web to a closed proprietary platform, we continue to move further away from the original benefits – and intention – that powered the original concept of the internet.